By Steve RogersNBC has announced that the second season of celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito's The Restaurant series will premiere on Monday, April 19 at 10 PM ET/PT.

"This show and its star Rocco were clearly one of NBC's break-out hits this past season," said Jeff Gaspin, Executive Vice President, NBC Entertainment. "We feel our viewers are hungry to find out what has happened to Rocco, his beloved Mama and their colorful staff."

The second season of The Restaurant will pick up six months after the first season finale as viewers will discover what happened to Rocco and his restaurant, "Rocco's on 22nd", after the frenetic and emotional opening. A major storyline running throughout the six-episode season will be the real-life dramatic conflict between Rocco and his financier Geoffrey Chodorow (China Grill Management) as Chodorow seizes control of the restaurant accusing Rocco and his staff of financial mismanagement - a real-life "storyline" that Reality TV World reported on back in February and has left the two partners in court.

Rocco will encounter these and other pitfalls throughout the series and viewers will see if he can rise to the occasion and turn things back in his favor. The season will begin with a major focus on improving the quality of the food and the hiring of a new chef, a colleague of Rocco's from Italy. Viewers will also meet the new staff members as they work alongside returning staff including everyone's favorite, Mama DiSpirito, General Manager Laurent, Captain's Uzay and Emily, Waiter's Carrie and Al and Chef Tony. Also present will be The Restaurant itself -- as executive producer Mark Burnett's cameras once again document the activities of the colorful patrons who came to eat at "Rocco's on 22nd" during filming.

Last summer's initial run of The Restaurant dominated its time period, winning or tying for first among adults 18-49 with all six telecasts. The Restaurant averaged a 3.6 rating, 10 share among adults 18-49, making it a top-15 show for the summer in this key ratings category. In overall total viewers, The Restaurant averaged 7.8 million viewers.

As it was last summer, The Restaurant continues to be the only unscripted drama that literally caters to the viewing public. Anyone at any time can call for a reservation during filming or just show up during dinner hours and try to get a walk-in table. The reservation hotline is 212-353-0500.

"I always considered season one of The Restaurant a six episode pilot. So many great dramas come back season after season and there is no reason why unscripted dramas cannot continue this trend," said Burnett. "It is simply great storytelling incorporating captivating characters with Rocco, our leading man, front and center."

"Rocco is an amazing chef and unique television personality. We are thrilled to watch him continue his journey of trying to please the most discerning diners in the world," added Ben Silverman, another executive producer of the series.

The Restaurant is executive produced by Reveille's Ben Silverman, Mark Burnett of Mark Burnett Productions, and Robert Riesenberg on behalf of Magna Global Entertainment.

surviordude_JT

CindiLou

I watched this last Monday and it was very good. Seems like Rocco's very busy restaurant is losing money big time. Rocco is way too busy selling his cookbook and signing autographs to pay attention to his restaurant. His partner is now stepping in and taking over. Good show!

Apparently all is fair in love, war, and television scheduling as far as NBC is concerned.

Despite its vested interest in keeping Mark Burnett, the producer of its smash hit The Apprentice and upcoming The Contender series happy, adding insult to previous injury, NBC has announced that Burnett's The Restaurant, pulled from the airwaves two weeks ago, will air its remaining episodes on the broadcast wasteland known as Saturday nights.

The decision marks a reversal from NBC's previous announcement that the series, pulled for the May ratings sweeps period as a result of low ratings, would air restart its six-episode run from its first episode beginning on Wednesday, June 9 at 9PM. Instead, The Restaurant will resume mid-run, with its fourth and fifth episodes airing Saturday, May 29 from 8-10PM ET/PT and sixth and final episode airing Saturday, June 5 at 8PM ET/PT.

In the fourth episode, a beaten Rocco DiSprito, depressed by his ongoing power struggles with co-owner Jeffrey Chodorow, will find motivation from an unlikely source -- restaurant manager Laurent, who reenergizes Rocco via a brutal call to arms. In the fifth episode, while Jeffrey and his team are meeting to discuss giving head chef Tony a raise, Rocco fires him and attempts to wrest back control of the kitchen.

The following week, in the program's season finale (and, given its poor ratings and reports of the restaurant's upcoming closure, likely its series finale) Jeffery travels to Miami to continue his quest to search for the real killers... er... I mean a new chef. Then, in the show's final climax, Jeffery gives Rocco two options -- either buy Jeffery out of the business, or accept a check for several hundred thousand dollars and completely end his involvement with his namesake dream restaurant.

Of course, given our previous reports that the staff at "Rocco's on 22nd" has been saying that Jeffrey plans to close the place on June 1 and replace it with a Brazilian steak house, perhaps that last episode climax won't be quite the suspenseful nailbiter that Burnett envisioned when he originally edited the season's storyline. After all, if NBC hadn't pulled the program from the airwaves, its season finale would have aired already.

CindiLou

Well, I found Rocco this evening. His last two unaired episodes were on NBC tonight from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST.

Oh my, oh my, oh my!

You just can't believe it. Rocco fired Tony, his executive chef, saying that it would save the restaurant money because Rocco would take over in the kitchen as a replacement for Tony. BIG MISTAKE! The night before, Jeffrey gave Tony a BIG raise for working so hard (80-90 hours a week) and for being so good at his job. Big blow up all around. Employees sooooooo upset and sooooooo angry.

Imagine Rocco taking over for Tony in the kitchen? Working 80-90 hours a week IN THE KITCHEN? The first night Rocco stayed in the kitchen for a few hours, then went upstairs to schmooze with the customers then left the restaurant early. The kitchen was in CHAOS.

I say bye bye Rocco! The man does not know business. Rocco is a celebrity, that is what he does best. Jeffrey should buy Rocco out, then turn around and hire him as the resident celebrity host to work in the restaurant.

Why didn't Rocco like Tony?? From what I saw he ran the whole kitchen..Rocco is a such Conceded Brat !

Television - Variety

Inside Move: 'Restaurant' didn't get just desserts

Mon May 24, 8:00 PM ET

Pamela McClintock, STAFF

Fans of "The Restaurant" peeved at NBC for suddenly abandoning the reality show a few weeks ago have an unlikely ally: Jeff Zucker.

During a conference call with journos Tuesday, the NBC U TV Group topper conceded he screwed up by pulling the Mark Burnett-Ben Silverman docusudser after just three episodes had aired. Skein had been doing OK-but-not-great Nielsen numbers with the first few episodes of its second season.

"We made a mistake," Zucker said during in a rare moment of candor for a network executive. "We made too quick of a decision on that. Under some pressure from stations that were not pleased with the (news) lead-in Monday at 10, I buckled. I regret that I didn't keep 'The Restaurant' on in that time period."

Indeed, repeats of "Crossing Jordan" and "Law & Order" actually drew fewer viewers than "The Restaurant" had been averaging.

NBC will give viewers a chance to see the final three segs of "The Restaurant," airing two episodes this Saturday and the show's finale June 5. Bravo will then repeat the entire run of the skein around the same time it airs a similar show from Silverman, the hair-focused "Blow Out."

CindiLou

From watching these shows, it seems to me that Rocco has absolutely NO business sense at all. His reality is not the reality of others. He actually said that Tony didn't really do much in the kitchen so why was he there? Rocco said he could easily sub for Tony in the kitchen and they could save Tony's $80,000 a year salary. The only thing is that Tony worked himself ragged in the kitchen. He worked 80-90 hours a week trying hard to get the kitchen running well. Now Rocco thinks he is going to step in and work a few hours a day and that will be enough. No business sense. No common sense. Jeffrey should boot Rocco out.

Jeffrey said he owns 21 restaurants and this is the only one losing money although it is packed every single night. Now, if you have a business that is packed every single night and still losing money, that is because the overhead is sky high. They have to cut expenses and boost sales. Jeffrey seems to understand what needs to be done but Rocco has absolutely no idea of what needs to be done.